itstargetnews
Jason Miller, senior adviser on the Trump-Vance transition, discusses the push for a dismissal in Trump’s New York criminal case, Hunter Biden’s pardon and the potential roles some prominent public figures could play in the Trump’s policies.
FIRST ON FOX: Those of Meta Global policy chief Joel Kaplan told Fox News Digital that the move to end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs will ensure the company “builds teams with the most talented people” rather than making decisions by hiring based on protected characteristics.
goal, on Friday, announced it was ending its major DEI programs, effective immediately.
META ENDS DEI CORPORATE PROGRAMS
Meta’s vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, sent a memo, first obtained by Axios, to employees explaining that “the legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion is changing.”
Kaplan, Meta’s head of global policy, discussed the decision with Fox News Digital on Friday afternoon.
The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech trade show in Paris, France on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus/AP Newsroom)
“Ultimately, it’s about doing what’s best for our company and making sure we’re serving everyone and building teams with the most talented people,” Kaplan told Fox News Digital. “This means evaluating people as individuals and sourcing people from a range of candidate pools, but never making hiring decisions based on protected characteristics such as race or gender.”
Kaplan noted that recent Supreme Court decisions “signal a shift in how courts will approach DEI.”
“It reaffirms longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics,” Kaplan told Fox News Digital.
The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, DC, Friday, January 5, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
He added: “It is clear that there is a shift on this issue from a political and legal perspective, and we anticipate that this will continue to happen further down the line, and we want to ensure that our programs are in a sustainable, long-term position.”
Several other prominent companies have revoked DEI policies in recent months.
TRUMP SAYS META HAS ‘COME A LONG WAY’ AFTER ZUCKERBERG ENDS FACT CHECKING ON PLATFORMS
McDonald’s announced on Monday that it was ending some of its DEI policies, saying that while it is committed to inclusion, it has abandoned its “aspirational representation goals” as well as ending its DEI pledge to suppliers . The company also renamed its diversity team the global inclusion team and ended external surveys on the issue.
GET THE FOX BUSINESS ANYWHERE CLICK HERE
The fast-food giant’s decision followed similar changes made in 2024 by Walmart, Ford Motor Co., John Deere, Lowe’s and Toyota.
Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon joins ‘The Bottom Line’ with reaction to Meta’s decision to end the tech giant’s fact-checking program.
In mid-December, a federal appeals court rejected Nasdaq’s diversity rules which had previously been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Meta’s move to end its DEI programs comes just days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would end its fact-checking programs on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg said his company will “return to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
Meta plans to replace fact-checking with a “Community Notes” model similar to that used in X.
Meta’s third-party fact-checking program was launched after the 2016 election and had been used to “manage content” and misinformation on its platforms, largely due to “political pressure “, the executives said, but admitted that the system had “gone too”. away”.
President-elect Donald Trump reacted to that of Meta move to end its fact-checking program on Facebook, Instagram and its other platforms, telling Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that the company has “come a long way”
Trump said he thinks “Meta’s presentation was excellent.”
GET THE FOX BUSINESS ANYWHERE CLICK HERE
As for the timing of the changes to Meta’s fact-checking programs, Kaplan told Fox News Digital that the company has “a real opportunity now.”
“We have a new administration that is far from pressuring companies to censor and (is more) a big supporter of free speech,” Kaplan said. “It brings us back to the values Mark founded the company on.”
Last year, Zuckerberg sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, in which he admitted that he had felt pressure from the Biden administration, especially regarding the content of COVID-19, and even topics such as satire and humor.
“The fact is, as American companies, when other governments around the world that don’t have our tradition or our First Amendment, when they see the U.S. government pressuring American companies to take down content , it’s just open season for those governments to put more pressure (on their companies),” Kaplan explained. “We think it’s a real opportunity to work with the Trump administration and work on free speech at home.”
Kaplan also said that Meta sees “partnership opportunities” with the Trump administration, not only on issues of free speech, but also on “the promotion of American business and America’s technological advantage.”
“These are matters of great importance to Meta and our industry,” Kaplan said. “And we’re excited to work with the Trump administration to advance those goals.”
